Court to weigh offer for NYMPC

A screenshot of New York Merchants Protective Company's website. A court will weigh a prospective buyer's offer for the company this month.

According to multiple sources, alarm dealer New York Merchants Protective Company could be sold to a prospective buyer this month.

The company and its former president, Wayne Wahrsager, have been embroiled in a lawsuit with Bank of America over a $19.2 million loan default. The company is currently under the court appointed receivership of Ronald J. Friedman, an attorney with the law firm of SilvermanAcampora.

According to John Brady, principal and president of TRG Associates, a consulting firm that was employed by the receiver to oversee the company’s operations, there is a bidder for the company that is going through the court approval process.

"There were a number of offers, but we got it down to one final offer and have proposed that for court approval," Brady said.

Brady said a hearing has been scheduled for Oct. 17, at which point the approval process will be determined by the judge.

Wahrsager says he tried to negotiate a forbearance agreement on the loan before it went into default, but that the only terms the bank would accept were unreasonable. In court filings, Bank of America alleges that the loan borrowers, which include Wahrsager, "kited more than 30 million in checks and misrepresented the amount of company revenue in order to maintain a borrowing level more than twice the level that would otherwise be authorized."

Wahrsager was officially terminated from his position with the company in May upon the request of the receiver. He claims that since the receiver took control of the company and employed TRG Associates, that it has lost 40 percent of its recurring monthly revenue, as well as more than 3,000 accounts.

Brady said that Wahrsager’s claims were "not factual," but would offer no further comment.

"(Bank of America) is hiding their responsibility of running this company behind the receiver," Wahrsager said. "They’re destroying the company."

Despite the impact that the litigation has had on him personally, Wahrsager said he feels the worst for the company’s customers and employees, some of whom have been with the firm for more than 20 years.

"I want to see the customers and employees protected," he added. "I really feel bad for them and I feel bad for the customers, most of whom I’ve had personal relationships with."